State Dep't SOI request: Internet Freedom Programs -
REQUESTED STATEMENT OF INTEREST PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
DRL and NEA invite organizations to submit statements of interest outlining program concepts and capacity to manage projects that will foster freedom of expression and the free flow of information on the Internet and other connection technologies in East Asia, including China and Burma; the Near East, including Iran; Southeast Asia; the South Caucasus; Eurasia, including Russia; Central Asia; Latin America, including Cuba and Venezuela; and Africa. Programming may support activities in Farsi, Chinese, Russian, Burmese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, French, and other languages spoken in acutely hostile Internet environments. Concepts may be global in nature, regional or country-specific.
Statements should clearly address a) support for digital activists and civil society organizations in exercising their right to freedom of expression and the free flow of information in acutely hostile Internet environments, or b) support for ongoing evaluation and research to enhance global Internet freedom policy and diplomacy.
One could make catty remarks about your choice of a) network neutrality or b) Wikileaks, but let’s instead actually just meditate in the warmth of how cool it is that the State Department cares about this at all. The Internet, man!
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The U.S. economy appears to be coming apart at the seams. Unemployment remains at nearly ten percent, the highest level in almost 30 years; foreclosures have forced millions of Americans out of their homes; and real incomes have fallen faster and further than at any time since the Great Depression. Many of those laid off fear that the jobs they have lost — the secure, often unionized, industrial jobs that provided wealth, security, and opportunity — will never return. They are probably right. And yet a curious thing has happened in the midst of all this misery. The wealthiest Americans, among them presumably the very titans of global finance whose misadventures brought about the financial meltdown, got richer. And not just a little bit richer; a lot richer.
Hint: Congress!
(Source: foreignaffairs.com)
Molecular Cell - Stress in Biomedical Research: Six Impossible Things -
The point here is that science [which is impossible], and this form of science that I and presumably you do, biomedical research (which I suppose is impossible squared), is unbelievably frustrating. And, as a consequence, stressful. … My mandate here is to identify the sources of stress in our scientific lives and to suggest ways to deal with them. … Each one is impossible (by which I mean “very, very difficult”), but even the attempt seems to help, and I’ve divided these into six impossible things. I am not sure that it is really six things, but the number was chosen because the White Queen asserted that with practice she regularly believes six impossible things before breakfast. Me, I’m still practicing.
Good fodder for New Year’s resolutions: read more.
“INT – ACORN-FUNDED HACK-CAVE – NIGHT Rows of TEENAGE HACKERS in THICK GLASSES and shirts emblazoned with ACORN LOGOS and HAMMERS AND SICKLES sit behind massive COMPUTERS, typing furiously as MATRIX-STYLE LINES OF CODE stream down the monitors. On one rocky wall of the hack-cave hangs an ENORMOUS OIL PORTRAIT OF JULIAN ASSANGE STYLED AS JESUS CHRIST. On another wall hangs a PAINTING OF BARACK OBAMA SEIZING THE LAND OF A MIDDLE CLASS FAMILY. On one of the teen communist hacker’s screens, the words “OVERRIDE PASSWORD? Y/N” appear. He stands and waves.” — How Glenn Beck Understands Operation Payback - Urlesque
Vancouver post box graffiti. BITCHES!
You’re more likely to have your car stolen or experience a B&E in Vancouver than 13 of 17 large cities. Property crime rates more than 2x higher than NY or Toronto. You wouldn’t guess, though! Less likely to be mugged for sure.
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